I. Spirit Possession, continued

A. Cao Dai as catalyst for political movement (Holy See and prayer service)

 

II. Interpreting Spirit Possession

A. Gives marginalized a voice

1. Gain status temporarily
2. Protected from repercussions: "it wasn't me"

B. Justification for dominant morality: "the ancestors say so"
C. Symbolic expression of collective understandings
D. Means of tracing and creating human connections
E. Method of healing
F. Part of social life
G. Ethnohistory: Ghosts in Vietnam
H. Power of spirit mediums

1. Economic
2. Social
3. Political

 

III. Religion and the Question of Belief

A. Intellectualist approach to belief

1. Beliefs are systematic, logical
2. Beliefs explain natural events and phenomena

B. The Problem of coming to believe

1. Evans-Pritchard: Azande believe because that's what Azande do
2. Psychic unity of mankind: Humans everywhere are critical analytical thinkers

 

IV. Luhrmann and Interpretive Drift

A. Background of witchcraft in contemporary England

1. 1920s
2. New Age, 1960s and 1970s

B. Four types of witches' groups

1. Goddess-oriented witches' covens, communal
2. Western Mysteries fraternities, hierarchical
3. Ritual magic groups, Celtic, Nordic, or Egyptian traditions, not stable
4. Non-initiated paganist groups

C. Sociological and psychological profile of members

1. Middle class urbanites
2. Range of professions, range of ages
3. Imaginative, self-absorbed, reasonably intellectual, spiritually inclined, and emotionally intense
4. Don't intend to become magicians (at least initially)

D. Interpretive drift

1. Gradual, but systematic changes in the ways one interprets events
2. Example of children in Cambridge
3. Three stages to interpretive drift

a. Interpretation
b. Experience, framework for seeing connections
c. Rationalization

4. Robert and the healing of an epileptic woman

a. Strong emotional feeling of coincidence
b. Powerful psychological energy
c. 13 weeks

5. Becoming a specialist: law school
6. "Testing" magic

 

V. Luhrmann's Reinterpretation of the Anthropology of Religion

A. Individual reasoning
B. Belief develops over time, as result of participation
C. Belief as a framework ready to help one make sense of rituals, thoughts, and feelings
D. Beliefs are fuzzy, ad hoc, internally inconsistent

 

For more information, contact:  aleshkow@holycross.edu